Ball-throwing toy



Patented Apr. 17, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH W. GREENFIELD AND WILLIAM WALLER, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

' BALL-THROWING TOY.

Application filed April 3,

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that we, JOSEPH W. GREEN- FIELD and WILLIAM WALLER, citizens of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Ball-Throwing Toy, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to ball playing devices and is especially adapted as a toy to be used upon lawns and even in houses but may also be used in playing regular baseball games. The device consists mainly in a base piece having in its top a cavity for the ball to rest in, and a pivoted beam lever arranged to have one arm struck downward by a bat and thereby its other end is thrown upward under the ball to pitch it in the desired direction. In the accompanying drawing: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the device with a ball resting upon it. Fig. 2 is a top view of Fig. 1 with the ball omitted.

Fig. 3 is a left hand end elevation of Fi 1.

fieferring to the drawing by reference numerals, 5 designates a portable base block having near one end an upstanding hollow portion 6 for the ball'7 torest upon when it is to be pitched. The pitching lever 8 is pivoted at 9 ma notch 10 in the rear wall of the upright portion 6 and has its inner arm 8 held in lowered position by a spring 11.

Thefront wall 6 is slidably grooved, at 12 in the side walls of the base and is held at any' desirable .elevation by a clamping bolt 13 and thumb-nut 14 on same.

If the wall 6 be given a central notch 6" in its top the ball will be so guided bysaid notch that it will always take a forward course when the lever 8 is hit by a bat 15. The upward pitch ordirection of the ball is 1922. Serial N0. 548,951.

regulated partly by the raised or lowered position of the slide 6, since that changes the downward radial line of the ball to a more or less forwardly leaning position over the point of the lever arm 8*.

Every time the lever 8 has been hit the spring 11 restores it to normal position.

The device is especially interesting to those who find pleasure in ball playing and who find it' more pleasant to exercise the mental faculties in placing and regulating this device and using it as an auxiliary part of a game.

What we claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, a base having a vertical tubular portion adapted to support a ball, a beam-lever tilting on a horizontal pivot in a verticalslot in the tubular'portion, the outer end of the lever adapted to be struck downward and the opposite end being arranged to throw the ball when the lever is hit, means automatically raising the struck arm of the lever after each stroke, and means for varying the position of the ball when at rest as to its distance away from the fulcrum of the lever.

2. In a device of the class described, a base having a vertical tubular portion adapted to support a ball in the longitudinal vertical plane of a beam lever, a beam lever tilting on a horizontal pivot in a vertical slot in said tubular portion, the outer end of the-lever being adapted to be struck downward and the opposite end thereof being arranged to throw .the ball when the outer end of the lever is hit, means for automatically raising the struck arm of the lever after eachstroke, and means for varying the position of the ball when at rest as to its distance away: from the fulcrum of the lever.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

JOSEPH WV. GREENFIELD. WILLIAM WALLER. 

